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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26883352">Nightmares You'll See Tomorrow</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/floralandfading/pseuds/floralandfading'>floralandfading</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Snapetober 2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Developing Friendships, Minor Character Death, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Snapetober 2020, Young Lucius Malfoy, Young Severus Snape</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:53:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,398</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26883352</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/floralandfading/pseuds/floralandfading</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapetober 2020: Day 7<br/>Nightmares</p><p>Severus Snape returns from break with trauma.<br/>School-Age AU</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lucius Malfoy &amp; Severus Snape</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Snapetober 2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949740</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Snapetober</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Nightmares You'll See Tomorrow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>title from: chemical kids and mechanical brides; pierce the veil</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All he could see was blood, pooling under her and around her, the bright red a strong contrast against the greying of her skin. It felt as if the image would be forever ingrained in his head. He would never forget how it felt as he realized what was happening, what </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>had done. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His knees buckled. He wanted to reach out towards her, scream out for her, beg for her to open her eyes and look at him with that soft, yet forlorn expression his mother always wore. He tried to reach her, but a different hand reached him first, keeping him in place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, stop!” he yelled, trying to twist himself away from the ironclad grip that he could feel bruising his wrist. He didn’t care though. The pain was almost welcome, grounding against the vice in his chest. “Mum!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get back here, boy.” his father yelled, voice gruff and distant. “If you don’t -”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let go of me!” Severus burst out, trying even harder to shake off the grip. There was a hand on his shoulder now, shaking him. He clenched his eyes shut, desperate to stop the scene in front him from being real, from continuing, from having happened in the first place. His breathing was becoming ragged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Severus!”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said let go of me!” Severus cried out, finally getting a hold of the man in front of him and pushing him away with all the strength his twelve-year-old body could muster. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not touching you, kid. I’m not touching you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He blinked and suddenly the scene in front of him had changed. He was no longer standing in the doorway to his home kitchen, watching his mother bleed out from a knife wound to the stomach, was no longer watching the splinters from a shattered bottle of whiskey glitter beside her head. He wasn’t even home at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was sitting in the Slytherin common room at Hogwarts, curled up awkwardly in one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace. He could see his book laying on the floor, pages crumpled from where it had landed face down. The room was dark, save for the soft glow of the fireplace. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was shivering.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, he was shaking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His breaths were still coming out in heaving pants and he could hear his heartbeat thrumming in his ears. It was a little disorienting and he couldn’t stop the jump, the gasp of surprise, when someone put their hand on his shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s just me!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Severus blinked again, finally noticing the silhouette of Lucius Malfoy in front of him. He was still wearing his school robe, the emerald green prefects badge glinting in the low light. He was staring down at him, studying him carefully with a concerned expression.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Self-conscious, Severus straightened up and went to wrap his cloak around himself. He grimaced when he realized he wasn’t wearing it and tried to search the floor discreetly. He was only wearing a nightshirt, had brought his book and cloak down to the common room when he realized he wouldn’t be able to sleep and hadn’t wanted to bother his roommates with his wandlight. He had been using his cloak as a blanket, had probably kicked it off when he was in the midst of, well, </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucius smiled softly and picked up the cloak, offering it to Severus. He immediately accepted it and draped it across his lap. He avoided eye contact with the still-staring sixth year student, choosing instead to study the masonry that decorated the fireplace. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Severus nodded, not trusting his voice. He could still feel himself shaking, was hyper aware that his breathing hadn’t yet returned to normal. He clenched his cloak tightly, angry tears forming at the memory he had been forced to relive. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucius Malfoy pursed his lips, clearly not believing him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Severus turned to look at him and tried to school his face into a scowl, tried to get the older boy to leave him alone and let him break down in peace. He didn’t need an audience for this - he had been alone for most of his life, he didn’t need anyone now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ignored the ache in his chest that wanted him to sneak off to Gryffindor tower and hug his best friend with all the buried grief and anger and raw, unfiltered pain he still hadn’t processed. He focused on his anger instead. “Leave me alone.” he snarled, </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucius raised a blond eyebrow and looked at him with an amused expression. His grey eyes were guarded, but Severus couldn’t begin to imagine why. “No, I don’t think I will.” Lucius decided simply, staring him down in challenge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Severus bit back a growl; Lucius could be so incredibly arrogant and overbearing in his role as prefect. If he had decided to stay, there would be no changing his mind - short of hexing him maybe. And hexing Malfoy was just a stupid thought to even entertain. “What do you want?” he demanded, groaning internally at the way his voice cracked. He pushed back tendrils of black hair and fixated on the fireplace again, glaring. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You fell asleep in the common room.” Lucius shrugged indifferently. “I just got back from meeting with Professor Slughorn - well, it was more of a party than a meeting, I suppose - and I thought it best to wake you up.”<br/><br/></span>
  <span>“Great, well, I’m awake now.” Severus wrapped his arms around himself even tighter. He brought his legs up to his chest as well, determined to make himself as small as possible. He could still see flashes of the kitchen floor whenever he closed his eyes for too long. He wished he hadn’t gone home at all for Christmas break. It had been the biggest mistake of his life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he hadn’t though, would he have known? Would anyone even bother to let him know that his mother was found dead on the dirty linoleum, on a random Tuesday afternoon? Would it have even happened if he hadn’t gone home to begin with?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a hand gripping his shoulder again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tried to fight against the ache telling him to bury himself into Lucius’ side. He didn’t need anyone. He could do this all on his own. He thought about the summer, looming in the horizon and how he would </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> to do it all alone from now on. He felt even more grateful that he had a home in his best friend’s heart because she was all he had now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hand let go of his shoulder and instead wrapped around him, and something inside of him crumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He burrowed into Lucius’ side and glared at his lap as tears started falling without his permission. He tried to rub them away before the older boy noticed, but when Lucius squeezed gently, he knew it was a lost cause. It was a very clumsy hug, but it was the most affection Severus had received since coming back from break. He hadn’t yet told Lily what he saw, what had happened, didn’t want to taint her cheery outlook on life with the shadows that seemed to follow him around; that buried him, consumed him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He still wasn’t sure what he had seen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from. Evidently, it was also a nightmare he couldn’t close his eyes against and escape from either. He let himself get lost in the sense of security he hadn’t felt in so long, breathing in the scent of grapefruit and cardamom and vetiver oil. Fingers were carding his hair now and it <em>terrified</em> him how vulnerable he felt right now. Yet his chest ached again at the thought of letting go. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He made a decision then, that he was going to stick to Lucius Malfoy’s side from now on. He could use more people in his corner, more friends to drive away the feeling of loneliness. He considered the idea of telling him about his mother, about what his father had done. He’d heard snippets of conversation, rumors about what sort of person Abraxas Malfoy was - maybe he would understand. The thought of talking about his nightmare, both the one he had just awakened from and the one he had gone home to, made his heart race again though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He burrowed deeper into the other boy’s side. <br/><br/></span>
  <span>It could wait until tomorrow. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>aka the story of how lucius malfoy ended up with a baby duckling imprinting on him</p><p>once again, this was supposed to be minerva's time to shine<br/>i just. i love lucius. and the idea of sev absolutely latching onto him. </p><p>(the implication of eileen being killed by tobias i mentioned in dementors stuck with me so i had to expand a little more. <br/>that's a headcanon i meant to explore in atssts but here is a taste of it now.)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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